Gadgetory

you knew this one was coming on the one hand we have Samsung's newest flagship phone and on the other hand its biggest non Android competitor hey Josh so fagged our firm android authority what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy s4 versus the Apple iPhone 5 it's obvious that we're dealing with two very different devices with different looks form factors and in some ways different philosophies from a first glance you notice the size difference samsung's galaxy s4 is the latest in a barrage of 5-inch screen smartphones to come in 2013 and it happens to be one of the easiest to handle taking general design and layout cues from the previous Galaxy s3 the s4 has thin bezels around the large screen and adds flat sides to what is essentially the same footprint has its predecessor plastic is Samsung's go-to material and it certainly inherits all that plastic entails it shine can get tarnished by fingerprints and it can get a little slick to the touch coming on the opposite end of the spectrum the iPhone 5 opted for a taller screen rather than an all-around larger size it's smaller form factor does make it a nimble Handler and with its aluminum finish it is widely regarded as a good looker the obit kudus home button graces the front with the power button up top and volume rockers under the silents toggle on the side this is a very flat device aside from the rounded corners a look that Apple has made rather iconic since introducing the look in the iPhone 4 Samsung's plastic is generally controversial but what shouldn't be ignored is the ease by which the s4 and its large screen can be handled if you really do believe that your hand can't handle that size the iPhone 5 is about as nimble a performer as it can get without being too small since the iPhone 5s release smartphones have been receiving significant upgrades in their displays Apple's own device was given a boost by including the Retina display that comes in at 11:36 by 640 resolution with 326 PPI it is very much a good performer with nice contrast and color reproduction as far as the size goes it was Apple's deliberate decision to keep the screen as easy to handle with one hand as possible that is certainly the case here Samsung on the other hand has joined the 5-inch screen era with their high performing 1080p display capable of 441 PPI what the size increase comes greater okay abilities and that is very true for this Super AMOLED display it is quite a saturated display experience with colors really popping out of the screen for some this might be too much but it's hard to argue with how the screen makes just about anything vibrant the 5 inch screen might be a little harder for people to handle but the S form makes it as easy as it can possibly be you will likely need your other hand for just the top most opposite corner it's also worth noting that with a larger screen comes easier on screen controls for gaming with both screens sporting the proper specifications for their respective size you get a great experience going either way performance typically benefits the later released device unfortunately for benchmarks 3dmark isn't out for iOS just yet so I had to go with Geekbench for now but the outcome seems to be where most of us would expect with the galaxy s4 outperforming the iPhone 5 Apple smartphone sports their in-house a6 a dual-core CPU clocked in at 1.2 gigahertz with 1 gigabyte of RAM and the power VR SGX 543 mp3 backing it this package might be paling in comparison to the powerful bits found in the s4 Samsung's flagship in the West is powered by the quad-core 1.9 gigahertz Beast the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 which is backed by the tried and true Adrina 320 and 2 gigabytes of RAM it definitely flies through its elements and has rare cases of stutter though one could still say that about the iPhone while the actual chips powering these phones are a ways apart software and rendering optimization is still a factor at Apple's locked-down ecosystem definitely benefits from it Android has made it strides to achieve the same with project butter but the bottom line is this the speck hungry will likely go for the more updated galaxy s4 though a new user of the iPhone 5 will still find a fast and fluid experience after all when you are the only phone that runs your own OS you better be good at it when it comes to hardware we have two different philosophies the unibody of the iPhone 5 makes it a what-you-see-is-what-you-get device not only is its battery fixed there's no way of expanding the 16 32 or 64 gigabytes of onboard memory it is capable of the typical bevy of connections though it is missing NFC the galaxy s4 on the other hand takes advantage of the plastic design by having a removable back underneath it is a removable battery micro SD card slot there on top all of this the long list of new sensors and you have a smartphone capable of a whole lot I do have to mention however that the iPhone benefits from an extensive accessories pret agree while its new docking connector has been rather controversial it is still possible to use an adapter for the hundreds of accessories already available Samsung hopes the s4 will follow suit with its own laundry list of accessories and growing third-party support started by the s3 the s4 offers more in included hardware but if you are coming from a previous Apple device you might have a better time going with the five as it will allow you to continue using the many accessories you may have invested in size perhaps matters most when it comes to battery life in this comparison the iPhone 5 sports a 1440 milliamp hour battery which is a very low number compared to many smartphone offerings found these days it is worth mentioning however that the a6 processor does its job of being powerful it gets a very decent battery life given its battery size though the end of the day is often a bit of a gamble we all have friends who have asked that typical question time and again anyone have an iPhone charger the s4 on the other hand has a whopping 2600 milliamp battery that can last for up to two days with normal to below average usage great standby time makes it last and even then straight usage can get 8 to 10 hours plus bring a spare with you and take advantage of the power saving options and you have a phone that can really go the distance if you need a long lasting performer there's no doubt that the s4 bests the iPhone in that sheer amount of time the camera situation is rather interesting while the iPhone has been regarded as having great optics that have been used for a few indie films the galaxy s3 was able to rival it coming in at 8 megapixels Apple's camera is capable of the panorama and HDR modes its picture quality is certainly very good with good detail and accurate color reproduction of which the video modes also benefit from what it lacks however are further app features you get HDR and panorama but not much else not even the ability to change the aspect ratio of your photo enter the 13 megapixel performer in the galaxy s4 it also produces pretty nice photos in the app you get HDR panorama best shot sound and shock eraser mode drama mode dual recording you get the picture for good quality production you can go either way here but from or ways of bringing out the fun in your smartphone photography the galaxy 4 does offer much more and finally we have the software what is interesting here is that iOS and TouchWiz both suffer from the same general problem now we've seen them before a lot I owe a says evolved since it's early days adding features like FaceTime and a notification drop-down originally popularized by Android but for the most part it has remained the same it still is a perpetual app drawer organiza bewilders and then pages and pages of icons multitasking is typically done app by app it works though it does take quite a few presses of the home button to achieve Siri has proven useful in most situations but it's far from the go to navigation choice for many users enter TouchWiz the uber colorful and bloated UI that people either love or hate it looks better on the large screen of the s4 but brings with it a ton of new features multitasking is still generally reliant on the recent apps function but multi window helps you when you really need to do two things at once S voice is useful but just like Siri isn't completely practical for go-to usage now what Samsung has added in however our new navigation controls aside a few added applications air views give you previews and air gestures allow you to move around with the wave of your hand see our in-depth videos for a better look at all of these it seems that both of these operating systems have come at a crossroads of sorts becoming generally slightly updated versions of their former selves Samsung might have added more fun bits in with this version of TouchWiz on the Galaxy s4 but who knows what Apple will have in store for the next iPhone device and OS finally price despite the iPhone having been released for sometime it's price is still around $700 for the base model unlocked the same goes for the galaxy s4 unlocked on US contract plans both phones come in at the $1.99 mark for two year plans and so there you have it for a lot of people this will come down to brand loyalty but I will say this if you purchased a lot of accessories for a previous iPhone the iPhone 5 might still be your best choice that way all of those investments will remain relevant otherwise the galaxy s4 has a lot to love and a lot of people will have a ton of fun with it but this is the exciting part Samsung has really made a splash with their newest flagship device so why did you remove Apple check out my full galaxy s4 review or Chris's new features explained video if you haven't already subscribe and drop us some likes then head over to Android Authority comm because we're your source for all things Android